Alaska Fisheries. Facts and Figures

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Alaska Fisheries. Facts and Figures

Alaska’s abundant fisheries have been actively developed since 1959. The industry catches and processes enough seafood each year to feed everybody in the world at least one serving of Alaska seafood, or one serving for every American for more than a month.

Frozen Alaska fish and seafood are imported to the Ukrainian market. Frozen fish and seafood often are of a higher quality than fresh products, as in Alaska modern processing vessels freeze fish within a few hours after the catch, thus preserving fish's healthy benefits, excellent taste and meat texture.

Alaska is the largest US state. The seafood industry is the state’s largest private sector employer. Every tenth resident of the state works in the fishing industry. It employs 9,432 vessels. If they were brought into line, it would be about 113 km (the distance from Kiev to Chernigov).

The harvesting and processing of Alaska seafood plays an important role in Alaska. There are 169 processing plants on the shore, 73 processing vessels and more than 12 floating bases in the sea – smaller fishing boats deliver there the catch for freezing and processing.

Alaska is a major player on the world market of wild fish and seafood. In 2017, the total catch was about 1,041 million MT of fish and seafood. Alaska pollock and salmon are the main fish species of Alaska.

Alaska’s vast land and water resources, and diverse habitats support healthy and abundant fish and wildlife. With more than three million lakes, 12,000+ rivers, and more coastline than the rest of the U.S. put together, Alaska’s virtually untouched waters produce seafood that is pure and remarkably free of contamination. Feeding on marine organisms from Alaska’s icy pure waters, Alaska seafood is natural and provides healthy nutrients straight from the source.